


so far so good

by brokenlikeastitch



Series: television/so far so good [2]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M, basically we get a look inside his head as opposed to gay disaster tk, but here i am, i didn't think i was gonna do this, migraine mentions, this is basically just nolan's point of view
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:47:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23275765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenlikeastitch/pseuds/brokenlikeastitch
Summary: but so far, everything's good~or~so why wouldn't nolan let travis ask him out?
Relationships: Travis Konecny/Nolan Patrick
Series: television/so far so good [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1673764
Comments: 4
Kudos: 111





	so far so good

**Author's Note:**

> a sequel?  
> i really didn't think i was gonna do this. but then i read a comment that kind of inspired it. so here we are!!!!!  
> this is also unedited :/

By the time Nolan had a handle on his migraines, he was a senior in college and completely used to online classes. Plus, Kevin and he had set up a pretty sick workspace in the living room for him, so why change and take courses on campus his last year. Parking was shit too, if he could do everything from the comfort of his home, why not.

The online class was apparently really hard to get into, and Nolan actually had a migraine the day it got scheduled; Kevin did it for him. The migraines weren’t near as bad as they used to be, but occasionally one would catch him off guard and fuck up his day.

Because he didn’t schedule it, he didn’t know that it started in March and not January, so when he only got four emails instead of five at the beginning of the semester, he panicked. Kevin walked in on him freaking out and grabbed his shoulder with a firm grip, “Pats, you have until March. I’m really sorry I forgot to tell you.”

Right. Okay. March.

***

The weather at the beginning of March was wack. It kept changing which fucked up his migraine streak, and he got a little behind on his work. Kevin told him it would be okay but also, no Kevin, it wouldn’t. He was trying to graduate and now he’s so fucking behind.

Probably wasn’t the best idea, but he knocked some coffee back at 9 p.m. and started trying to catch up on his reading. It was admittedly dry, but he needed the info for a case analysis and if he had to chug coffee to make it interesting, he’d do it.

In an extra attempt to procrastinate the paper, he decided to check his email. Kevin read him the one from the management professor the day it got sent, but he hadn’t heard anything about his partner since then. Unfortunately, he hadn’t had the chance to message his partner or do any sort of research on the topic of the project.

His email was pretty empty, but he did have one message.

**To: njp1921@philadelphia.edu**

**Subject: MGMT Project**

**Sup dude, I’m Travis. We’re partners for the 490 project and I was just wondering if you wanted to meet up in person or if you’d rather Zoom, that’s good with me too. Let me know if you want my number to coordinate this over text, if not, it’s cool. No pressure. Anyway, I figure we should probably start this ASAP so yeah.**

**Good day,**

**TK**

Travis. Okay.

Nolan started looking into the topic and found some interesting cases to possibly use for the project before going back to his paper. He wrote, breaking occasionally for coffee, and when he finished it was 3 a.m. and he was fucking tired. Editing could wait for another day.

His bed looked fucking inviting, and he laid down in the dark, excited to sleep. He could feel himself falling before shooting up and grabbing his laptop, he’d forgotten to actually message Travis back. Nolan was tired, and his message probably wasn’t the most put together, but he sent it and set three alarms to make sure he was awake on time.

**To: tk01123@philadelphia.edu**

**Subject: MGMT Project**

**Sorry for the late response. 9:00 tomorrow morning.**

**https://zoom.us/j/198107218**

***

Admittedly, he slept through the first two alarms. Probably would’ve slept through the third too, but Kevin came into his room to make sure he was okay.

“Pats, your alarm has been going off for a while now, you need to be up?”

Nolan groaned and checked his phone, “Fuck, I have a Zoom meeting.”

Kevin brushed his hair back off his forehead and smiled, “Want me to make some coffee?”

Thinking about all the coffee he drank just hours before, he shook his head, “Nah, bro, probably gonna go back to sleep once I hang up.”

Looking at his nightstand where a coffee stained mug was sitting, Kevin picked it up and squeezed Nolan’s shoulder, “Gotcha, bud. I’ll let you do your work. Text me if you need anything.”

“Thanks Kev.”

By the time he got his computer up, it was 9:00 on the dot. The video connected, and the guy on the other side was not exactly what he was expecting. Not that he really had any expectations, but this dude was totally His Type. He almost didn’t know how to talk to him.

So, Nolan elected to rub his eyes a few times in attempt to get his shit together, and it actually kind of worked.

Travis cleared his throat, “Um, what’s up dude?”

Smiling at him sleepily, Nolan tried to pull his thoughts together. Mentally he was yelling ‘get your shit together you disaster bisexual’ but outwardly he just said, “Hey, sorry I scheduled this so early, but I have some stuff to do this afternoon.”

He kind of wished Travis were less understanding because Nolan was prone to easily falling in love, and if Travis was this chill toward a stranger, he’d probably be willing to work around Nolan’s – NO. Okay, god, chill the fuck out.

Their first meeting actually went really well. Travis seemed really nice, and he played hockey which checked one of Nolan’s boxes. He tried to end early in case Travis wanted to get his number because he did not trust himself to be able to keep his shit together long enough to focus on the project, let alone the rest of the semester. And god dammit, Nolan needed to graduate. Fucking, get it together.

Kevin came into his room right after the call ended, and took one look at his face before he got a knowing look on his. Nolan wanted to crawl into a hole when Kevin finally spoke, “Not again, bud.”

“Please don’t say it.” Kevin held his hands up and walked out of the room.

***

The project really wasn’t hard. He was able to get through the information pretty easily, but it was boring. Which all of his management classes were in comparison to marketing classes. He also had a job waiting for him, thanks to Kevin, with the Flyers organization as a marketing intern.

Their second meeting went much like the first, Kev waking him up, barely functioning the first five minutes, and very distractedly pulling his hair up. This time, though, Nolan agreed to the coffee, and Travis asked about him. Nolan was glad he didn’t see Kev, because if Travis was a hockey bro, he would’ve instantly recognized NHLer Kevin Hayes.

He became roommates with Kevin because his dad had connections, and Kevin was generous enough to house Nolan in a nice place for a discounted rent for him to be comfortable for health reasons. He also had access to way nicer doctors with Kevin behind him which was a definite bonus. But Nolan didn’t want to flex Kevin because Kevin had done so much and he was genuinely Nolan’s best friend.

They got a lot done in their meeting, despite Nolan constantly being distracted by the tightness of Travis’s sleeves on his arms and the fucking headband that was consistently ruining Nolan’s life. But he had to stay focused. Get your shit done and then you can ask him out, Nolan kept reminding himself. Followed up by, no way this dude is gay. Since when have you ever had that luck?

Nolan had looked him up on Instagram, and there had been no evidence of a significant other, but most hockey bros, according to Kevin, were both straight and oblivious. No point in getting his hopes up.

Their chat got more friendly at the end of the second meeting, more intimate. Nolan became very aware that he was both shirtless and in bed, and Travis was also in bed, albeit more awake and put together than Nolan. Maybe next time he should get up earlier.

He tried to put his whole heart into chirping Travis about being a Leafs fan, but he was only halfway in it. Nolan just wanted to hold his fucking hand that he kept waving in excitement to emphasize his points. And then the dreaded happened.

“So do we meet over Zoom next week or should we get coffee since clearly we both like it?”

Nolan panicked almost immediately and all he could hear in his head was that fucking Frozen song, ‘conceal don’t feel’ or whatever it said. He blurted, “Zoom is fine. Monday at 9:30?”

Barely waiting for Travis to respond, he hung up the call and ran his hands through his hair a few times, allowing himself to sigh loudly and dramatically into the silence of the empty room.

“Fuck me,” he whispered.

***

His sister came into town to visit on her spring break. He tried not to look too happy about it, he had a reputation to maintain. Until she fed him really good homecooked food, let him pick the movie, and then offered to braid his hair which he was really excited about, honestly.

By the time a reasonable bed time came around, he got her a bunch of blankets for the couch and some of his nicest pillows. She wouldn’t let him give up his bed for health reasons, and who was he to argue. Nolan also didn’t want to unbraid his hair because he loved it so much, so he left it up, not considering that he had the video chat with Travis the next morning.

Travis looked incredibly endeared, “Mornin Nolan, digging the braid.”

He couldn’t help the blush, even preened a tiny bit, before responding, “Thanks, my sister is in town and she did it last night.”

They talked about siblings a little before getting to work. Nolan lowkey did not want to know more about Travis right then. He just wanted to get the project done so he could actually focus on something other than school.

His sister stood in the doorway for most of the second half of the meeting, judging him silently. No way Travis could tell he was flustered around him, but his sister knew him really well, and she could. Nolan almost didn’t want to hang up because he knew his sister would never embarrass him in front of Travis. As soon as he was gone, however, all bets would be off.

Nolan turned down Travis’s request for his number and Nolan’s sister’s eyebrows shot up her forehead. God, he was never going to live that down.

Sure enough, as soon as he hung up, she incredulously repeated his answer, “Did you lose my email? Well that’s how you can contact me. Nolan what the fuck?”

He searched for the most reasonable excuse, “I need to not be distracted. I’m almost done with school, and when I’m done, then I’ll date a really cute and distracting hockey boy.”

“Nolan, you are expecting this dude to wait for you?”

“I never said it was a good, or logical plan.”

“My god, you are a fucking disaster.”

“It’s a brand, sis.”

***

At the next meeting, they discussed their majors. Neither of them offered future career plans, Nolan wasn’t entirely sure how to explain his Flyers connection. They finished up pretty fucking quick and Nolan was a little disappointed.

But the closer they got, the closer he was to possibly taking Travis up on his offer. If it was even still on the table. Kevin was giving him more and more pitying looks as his pining (and Instagram stalking) was reaching extreme levels.

“Pats, he’s interested. Please don’t shoot yourself in the foot. You deserve your own disaster gay.”

“He could be bi,” Nolan countered.

Kevin rolled his eyes, “Disaster bi, then.”

***

Nolan was heavily disappointed when Travis didn’t try again for his number or asking him to coffee at the end of their last video chat. Clearly, he had missed the window. Fucking typical. It was hard to get up and function with the crushing disappointment, but he did it.

Walking into the business building, which he’d only been in a few times, he tried to look like he knew where he was going. Looking at his phone, he turned the corner to the hallway the professor’s office was on. Glancing up, he saw Travis sitting there on a bench, and Nolan ducked back around the counter.

Fuck. Fuck, okay.

He called Kevin.

“Nolan, you okay?”

“Yeah, um, Travis is here. I think he might be waiting for me.”

“Dude, Pats, get it!”

“If he asks me out, I should say yes, right?”

Kevin was silent for a second, “Nolan, you fucking beauty, go get your man.”

“Right.”

“You’ve got it, Patty.”

“I can do it.”

“Hell yes you can.”

Hanging up the phone, Nolan took a deep breath and decided to deal with Travis after turning their paper in. He tired to ignore Travis ducking, clearly trying to hide from him.

Their professor had a tray on his desk with a few stapled papers in it already, and he smiled at Nolan.

“Good morning, may I ask who you are and your partner?”

“I’m Nolan Patrick and my partner is Travis.”

The professor crossed something off a paper and smiled at him again, “Thanks, Nolan. Grades will be in by next Friday.”

“Thanks, sir.”

Time to deal with Travis.

He stepped back out and looked right at Travis, “Long time no see.”

Travis almost swallowed his tongue, “Yeah, um, I’m waiting –“

“For me?”

“For class,” Travis tried with a weak looking smile.

Nolan tried to look amused and not at all like his heart was nervously beating out of his chest, “Well in that case, good to see you.”

“Wait, no, I wanted to get coffee with you,” Travis blurted.

He could feel himself blushing, and palms got a little itchy with the feelings in his chest, “You still want to get coffee with me?”

“Yes?”

“You can buy.”

Travis seemed so taken aback that it took him a few seconds to respond, “Yeah, sure, I’d love to.”

Nolan smiled, “Let’s go.”

***

Coffee went fantastic. Travis was a little smaller than he realized, and Nolan loved it. He was so knowledgeable about both hockey and his studies. It was Overwhelming for Nolan’s disaster self.

In one of their smaller silences, Travis spoke up cautiously, “Hey, so, why didn’t you give me your number or take me up on my offer earlier?”

“I wanted to focus on graduating. And you’re really distracting. And I was just really hoping you would still be down at the end of the project.”

Travis snorted, swirling his straw, “You’re lucky I was. But I can’t front, I was actually so gone on you, that there was no competition at all.”

Nolan smiled down at his drink, sheepishly, “That’s what Kevin was saying too. I faced a lot of criticism over this.”

“You’re kind of a disaster, Patty.”

“You don’t even know the half of it, Teeks.”

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on [tumblr](http://bitchell-marner.tumblr.com/) friends, let's chat!
> 
> also i got to use this as the chance to use the rest of the song. rex orange county ["television/so far so good" (a good song!!!!)](https://youtu.be/OU8RLlYCe-o)


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